Where your money goes - British division

"The decision to hold cabinet meetings outside of London cost the taxpayer an estimated £200,000 per session.

Meetings in Birmingham and Leeds last year, and one in Liverpool on Thursday, could cost up to £600,000 in total, according to new figures".

Rosie 'friend of John Prescott' Winterton justifies it in entirely party political terms:

"Hosting this event gave us the opportunity of getting the prime minister to Halifax and the chancellor to Bradford & Bingley to allow them to put forward the case for saving thousands of jobs in the region".

Couldn't the bankers just have got a train to London, at a cost of maybe a few hundred quid even if they went first class and paid on the day? Or maybe called Brown at the cost of a few pence?

The indefatigable and all round top chap that is Mark Wallace of the TPA had this to say:

"This bill is unfair to put on local taxpayers, particularly when these meetings were just PR exercises to promote the government, rather than give local people real power."I make you right there Mark.

Alan Duncan, Conservative business spokeman "snubbed a shadow cabinet away day touring British cities to sudy the impact of the recession in order to go on an MP's skiing holiday to Switzerland" (The Telegraph, Jan 7). Not a good example when most of the country is worrying about paying its bills. This MP needs to get his priorities right, though rumour has it that he will be sacked by David Cameron in the next reshuffle. I met him once at a forthright debate and found him to be both boorish and rude and he has said about ministers holding outside directorships "Better to be part-time wise than full-time ignorant". I think not.